The story: five Protestant missionary nuns embark on
the task of establishing a school/health center and residence for their future
convent in the desolate Himalayan mountains. The dwelling is a deserted sultans palace surrounded by the
grandeur of the snowcapped peaks of Kanchenjunga. Obstacles confront them at
every turn with a community of superstitious
natives and a jaded and rugged British intermediary named Mr. Dean (David Farrar).
Adding to these hurdles are their
own emotional frailties, culture shock and previously unearthed worldly passions
with the inherent creeping jealousies and desires. The project proves a daunting test for the
ambitious Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr),
given her first taste of authority and her strong determination to succeed as
she counters the continuous roadblocks.

.

Master cinematographer Jack Cardiff's

extravagant visual Technicolor style helps expose the breathtaking landscape
into a corollary for the transcendent seduction overtaking the pious
strangers to this new world. Settling into this sparse and haunting atmosphere, steeped in firmly
entrenched traditions and cultural roots, proves to be an unanswerable challenge. The nuns are from a bleak,
simple
world of black and whites and are now thrust into the color-infused landscape
filled with mysterious
native idiosyncrasies. Powell and Pressburger's style never seems to overwhelm with grandiose
or flashy fad-like presentations, but they allow the film's gentle essence to sweep over
you with a coaxing allure lingering with
gratuitous and gentle determination. When you think of I
Know Where I'm Going,
A
Canterbury Tale,
Gone
to Earth,
A
Matter of Life and Death etc. etc., it is all about the pure feeling the
film evokes. Black Narcissus is another prime example. One of the
greatest joys of film experience is to submit to the elegant, glorious and resplendent
world of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. This is simply another of their best
films!out of

Edition Details:
• Audio commentary by late director Michael Powell and Martin Scorsese
• Painting with Light, a new video documentary on Jack Cardiff and
Black Narcissus by Craig McCall, produced exclusively for this
release
• A collection of rare behind-the-scenes production stills

• 6-page liner notes with essay
by Dave Kehr

DVD Release Date: January 30, 2001Keep Case
Chapters: 26

Release Information:
Studio:
Warner Home Vidéo (France)

Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen (Standard) - 1.33:1

Edition Details:
•
Preface by Martin Scorsese in English with optional French subtitles
(3:21)

•
Introduction by Bernard Tavernier (8:26) with English subtitles

•
Trailers of 3 Powell and Pressburger films

Disc 2

•Memories of Michael (11:24) in English with optional French subtitles

•Daring with an Aventuer - French with optional English subtitles
(17:23)

•Profile of Black Narcissus - English with optional French subtitles
(23:59)

•Painting With Light - English with optional French subtitles
(25:37)

•This is Color anamorphic short documentary -
English with optional French subtitles (13:50)

Edition Details:
• Commentary With Michael Powell And Martin Scorsese
• Painting with Light, a new video documentary on Jack Cardiff and
Black Narcissus by Craig McCall
• A Profile of Black Narcissus

• Trailer

•
Image Gallery

• 8-page liner notes booklet
with essay by Martin Scorsese

DVD Release Date: September 26th, 2005
Keep Case
Chapters: 12

Release Information:
Studio: Criterion Collection

1.33:1 - 1080P
Dual-layered

Blu-ray

Disc Size:
47,668,686,014 bytes

Feature: 29,829,795,840 bytes

Video Bitrate:

34.99 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Edition Details:

• Video introduction by filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier (8:43 in French
with English subtitles)
• Audio commentary featuring Powell and director Martin Scorsese
• The Audacious Adventurer, a video piece in which Tavernier discusses
the film and Powell (17:27)
• Profile of “Black Narcissus,” a documentary featuring members of the
Archers’ production team (25:29)
• Painting with Light, a documentary on Cardiff’s Oscar-winning work on
Black Narcissus (26:31)
• Original theatrical trailer (2:35)
• 24-page liner notes booklet featuring an essay by critic Kent Jones

Blu-ray
Release Date: J

uly
20th, 2010
Transparent
Blu-ray Case
Chapters:
19

Comments

NOTE: These
Blu-ray captures were
taken directly from the
Blu-ray disc
and are linked to their 1920X1080 counterpart if you are interested
to see.

ADDITION: Criterion
Blu-ray (June 10'):
Criterion's original DVD from 2001 was a digital transfer nightmare. In
attempting to replicate the original Technicolor via the SD-DVD format they
utilized techniques that created aberrations such as chroma bug with certain
colors appearing very un-like the theatrical representations. As it was all that
was initially available we were still thrilled at their attempt.

ITV did a single-layered
Blu-ray in 2008 that was
established as the benchmark for the film but Criterion's new
Blu-ray with a superior bitrate
and the feature film taking up almost 30 Gig advances beyond that 1080P
representation. Every single attribute seems to have advanced with the Criterion
dual-layered transfer look brighter, with more exuberant colors, to tighter
detail and, as expected, a large step up in the contrast level. The Criterion
Blu-ray seems to advance the
film-like appearance to it's highest digital rendering yet - possibly ever. The
final 7 large screen captures below may be the most telling. I don't know that
it could ever match the vibrancy of Technicolor but, regardless, this looks just
fabulous in my opinion.

Audio, as per Criterion's penchant, is original mono
in a linear PCM transfer that gives some perceived buoyancy to the track - in
many instances the audio is notably impacting in the film presentation from the
unforgettable soundtrack to the effect noises - trumpets, rain, bells - all seem
improved in the newest lossless track. The Criterion has optional English
subtitles and the
Blu-ray disc is locked to region
'A'.

Supplements contain, from the previous DVD, the
audio commentary featuring Powell and director Martin Scorsese as well as the
26-minute Painting with Light documentary on Jack Cardiff’s Oscar-winning
work on Black Narcissus. What is new, but previously available on some of
the other DVDs is the 9-minute video introduction by filmmaker Bertrand
Tavernier (as found on the Warner France DVD - in French with English subtitles)
and the 17-minute The Audacious Adventurer (also found on the Warner
DVD), a video piece in which Tavernier discusses the film and Powell. Profile
of “Black Narcissus,” is a 25-minute documentary, already available on the
ITV DVD, featuring members of the Archers’ production team and we also get the
original theatrical trailer in HD (as are all video supplements). I should note
that the supplements were in PAL on the ITV
Blu-ray and most North American
machines were not able to access them. Lastly we get a 24-page liner notes
booklet featuring an essay by critic Kent Jones and color photos from the film.
We appear to have lost the Dave Kehr piece. Still an excellent set of
supplements with the commentary still shining as golden.

What can I say - I've listed Black Narcissus, at various times on various
lists, as my favorite film of all time. To have Criterion procure their digital
efficiency after almost 10-years hence their original DVD is like a dream come
true. This film makes me realize all I love about the film medium and the
immaculate
Blu-ray has our very highest
recommendation. It may very well be my
Blu-ray pick of the entire year.
Purchase with confidence!

ADDITION: ITV
Blu-ray (June 08'): Firstly, the great news - despite rumors
to the contrary this release is REGION FREE and will play on
Blu-ray players
world-wide. Whewwww!

NOTE: BUT the 24 minute extra feature,
Profile of Black Narcissus (also found on the two PAL
releases), does NOT play on my region 'A'
Blu-ray player. It
appears to be PAL and/or region 2 encoded. I haven't checked but
doubt my SD region-free player will be able to pick it up either
(being on a
Blu-ray disc). It
will probably only play on a Region 'B'
Blu-ray player.

Secondly, equally as good news to the
region-free attribute - it looks absolutely marvelous. Colors fully
support the restored transfers on both PAL editions, but this runs
full theatrical 1:40:43 without 4% speedup. Detail is, of course,
improved and had me swooning. At times it looks almost unbelievable
it is so tight, clean and clear. Remember all captures are in native
resolution but the
Blu-ray are reduced
in size to fit this webpage. I don't know if the resized image is
doing enough justice to the
Blu-ray hence our
linking to the full-resolution images. I've also added more
linked images at the very bottom to help convey how tremendous this
Blu-ray appears. A
favorite film, this has vaulted to be one of my most valuable discs
and will be the
Feature DVD of July 08'.

Audio is 2.0 channel mono (never
understood that) but sounds just fine - as good or better than I
have heard before (sounded very 'strong' to me - maybe I just mean
'loud'). There are optional English subtitles in a reasonable white
font.

Now, it could look even better.
This is a single-layered
Blu-ray disc and the film only
takes up 16 Gig.
Mathematically it could be further improved but this probably won't
be coming along very soon. It does have some infrequent speckles and
shows a bit of noise but is far superior to the older SD editions. I
can easily assure anyone that this is the best home theatre
representation of Powell and Pressburger's immortal classic.

Our goal at DVDBeaver is to disseminate
knowledge of important films looking the best on DVD. Sometimes we
succeed. I am very proud to acknowledge this
Blu-ray of Black Narcissus
is now one of the most prized discs I own (and I own a lot).

***

ADDITION: Warner Home Vidéo (April 06'):
For many of us we really did not require this validation that the
colors on the Network edition were more accurate than those on the
Criterion. The Network colors are much closer to the new Warner Home
Vidéo, but the image quality on this new French release is even
sharper!

All we can say is 'Wow' - this new DVD
release, labeled from the 'Collection
Institut Lumiere' as are the other new Powell and Pressburger
offerings from Warner Home Vidéo in Europe, looks outstanding. The
colors are perfect and the slight haziness apparent in the Network is
replaced by a crisp image that may have some minor black-level
boosting (but nothing compared to the manipulation on the Criterion).
The image is the best I have ever seen of this film.

The extras in the Warner package are
fairly extensive
clocking in at almost 2 hours worth - it only seems slighted by the
lack of commentary (available on both the Criterion and the Network).
I am also a fan of subtitles (optional English) but it seems like a
small point when the image quality is this tremendous. The entire
package is stunning. After a 2nd viewing of the Warner disc, I can
confirm that it is the definitive digital transfer for the film and we
strongly recommend!

****

ADDITION - NETWORK - Region 2- PAL -
October 05'

The new transfer is directly off a new
interpositive struck directly from the YCMs... which the Criterion
isn't. And the colors, for me, are just perfection. (Thanks Bruce!)...

Bruce's comments ring true and I think
this shows the value of direct frame comparisons as we initially had
the Criterion on of our ESSENTIAL DVDs (already changed)
but side-by-side against the new NETWORK release we can identify a few
flaws. Portions of the Criterion are not progressively transferred,
hence we can see 'combing' in two of the screen capture below. The
NETWORK is far more filmic looking than the Criterion which has some
fluctuating contrast, chroma bug and an appearance of color bleeding.
The Criterion looks very thin in comparison and it also has more
scratches, dirt and damage. It appears to have been brightened. The
NETWORK does not have a subtitle option. In the area of extras, the
commentary is the same as is the featurette 'Painting With Light'
but the NETWORK brings a few new supplements with the 24 minute 'Profile
of Black Narcissus'. Audio appears on a par with the Criterion -
and may actually be slightly clearer.

Although the Criterion states 'Created
with the participation of cinematographer Jack Cardiff' I suspect
transfer methods have improved in the past 4 years and the NETWORK
source was obviously superior.

DeeF says:

'I've seen Black Narcissus several
times in the theater, the last being about the year 1999, at Film
Forum in NY.

The Technicolor of a projected film really can't be reproduced
properly on a digital video, and I admit to always being disappointed
in the Criterion disk.

In addition to odd color problems, the Criterion has audio-synch
issues.'

(thanks Dee!)

Cliff says:

'Some of the screen shots from the Network
disk (e.g., that shot with the golden metal thingie) remind me of
Fantoma's DVD of "Tiger of Eschnapur". Technicolor on DVD
doesn't get much better.' (thanks Cliff!)

The Network edition is a must-own DVD. No
question.

*****

There are some visible scratches
and it can tend to look saturated at times. I understand a "fog
filter" was used in filming so some scenes are in intentionally
hazier than others. Probably the weakest part of this DVD is the sound,
but holding it up to normal standards, it is quite acceptable. Let's remember
this film is over 50 years old - almost impossible to believe. Nice
Extra feature of the "Painting with Light" short and of
course the Powell commentary.